


memories and snowflakes

by renisabitcrazy



Category: SK8 the Infinity (Anime)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Character Study, Hints of a Future Relationship, Introspection, M/M, Of a sorts, Reki Pines, Skateboarding, blink and you miss it - Freeform, but in a poetic way, i watched the first episode and it started my heart again, ish
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-17
Updated: 2021-01-17
Packaged: 2021-03-14 22:27:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 840
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28802787
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/renisabitcrazy/pseuds/renisabitcrazy
Summary: Reki will always remember seeing Langa race for the first time.
Relationships: Hasegawa Langa/Kyan Reki
Comments: 6
Kudos: 66





	memories and snowflakes

There are moments that stay with you for a long time. 

Reki remembers the first time he picked up a skateboard. Remembers climbing on it, trying to roll down the street, and falling off. Remembers trying and falling off again. And again. And again. 

He remembers the first time he didn’t fall, remembers the wind stinging at his cheeks and combing through his hair, remembers the way his face stretched wide to accommodate his smile, and he remembers thinking _I don’t want to ever forget this feeling._

He doesn’t remember every time he’s gotten on a board, but he doesn’t need to. He doesn’t remember how he learnt each trick, the number of bruises that have appeared on his legs, the number of boards that he’s worked his way through, but he doesn’t need to. 

As long as he can recreate that first feeling of riding a skateboard, he’s fine. As long as he can remember what it means to race down a street, to make a particularly difficult turn, to _fly_ \- then he’s fine. He’s content.

And then there are the new memories that he makes, the memories that are just as powerful as the first. The exhilaration of challenging Shadow, _the_ Anti-Hero of the S races, the euphoria he felt when he neared the finish line - _Oh wow I’m actually doing this, this is actually happening, shit I can actually win this thing_ -

The stinging disappointment, so like the pain in his arm, seeing his board go up in flames.

Some memories can be painful, but they are memories nonetheless. 

Then there are the unexpected memories, the ones that at first don’t seem to be that important - an unfamiliar face, blue, shoulder-length hair, short monotone answers - that mark a change, that show the start of something new. 

_“You saved my butt transfer student!”_

Wide blue eyes, staring with a fascination, a _hunger_ , that he’s all too familiar with. A request - _“Wanna skate?” -_ an initial rejection - _“Well, no, thank you”_ \- followed by a trial. 

Reki laughs when Langa falls. He doesn’t mean anything malicious by it, he’s all too familiar with the feeling of being on the ground, but there’s just something about him, the foreign student with few words and a familiar look in his eye, something that draws out that sort of reaction.

_“This thing wasn’t made for people to stand on!”_

_“Of course it is!”_

Soaring through the air will always be his favourite feeling. 

He looks back behind him and oh, he recognises that expression. Langa looks at him the same way he looks at other skaters; awe mixed with longing. A desire to do the same. 

What’s not familiar, what he doesn’t have a memory to refer to, is the warmth it fills him with. 

Some memories are looked back on fondly, with a shake of the head and a ‘ _You should have known then’._

The first night of the tournament is not supposed to be significant for him. It’s a simple enough job - deliver the board, maybe stay and watch the race, then leave. 

But he makes a mistake. 

_“I’m sorry. I’ll go get it right away!”_

It’s too late, the race is about to begin, he screwed up he screwed up he _screwed up-_

Then - an opportunity. _Shadow_ comes along and how he hates him, remembers the flash of the bombs underneath his wheels, remembers flying through the air in the wrong way, remembers the flames of fire licking across his board and now he’s _angry_ \- _“Langa, get me the scissors from the toolbox- ”_

_What the hell is that dumbass doing?_

There isn’t much debate: when Langa, as Reki quickly comes to realise, sets his mind to something, there’s nothing much that can stop him. 

A while later he will ask, _‘Why did you offer to go in my place?’_

_There’s a flushed face, lowered eyes, a mumbled ‘I just wanted to skate’, and he laughs, threading their fingers together._

This is another memory that he will recall many times, regardless of what details might fade. He will not remember the clothes he was wearing, he will not remember the name of the order he fucked up, he will not remember the exact time the race began.

What he does remember?

_“Look out, Langa!”_

Everything is still, but for a few exceptions. The flash of Shadow’s bombs, but different now. There’s no fear attached to them, but instead they’re like fireworks, framing the form of Langa. And the boy himself, turning in the air, completely free from gravity, unlike anything Reki has ever seen before. 

_“Just then, I was certain I saw them. White snowflakes falling from the sky, here in Okinawa.”_

It fills him with something, something _warm_ and _big_ and _full_ and _comforting_ and he knows it has to do with the boy in the air, the boy with the pale skin and the blue eyes and the hair that he wants to touch and-

This memory, he knows, is going to stay with him for a very long time. 

**Author's Note:**

> After a year-long hiatus, what revives me is this gay af skateboarding anime. I love them. So much.  
> All the dialogue is from the anime because I am not that creative. Also, the line “Just then, I was certain I saw them. White snowflakes falling from the sky, here in Okinawa” is going to stick with me for months to come. 
> 
> Feedback is highly appreciated!


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